Built by neighbors, run by clinicians, owned by the community.

In 2016, a group of seven Westchester County clinicians, teachers, and parents began meeting on Thursday evenings in the basement of a Valhalla church. The premise was simple: there were too many families in our county who could not access the mental health and family support they needed, and the existing safety net — already strained — was not built for them.

We started with one clinical hour at a time, donated by volunteer therapists. Within a year we were running a Spanish-language parenting circle, a Saturday after-school enrichment program, and an emergency food drop. Word spread the way it always does in Westchester — at school pickup, at the laundromat, in church parking lots — and by 2018 we had become a registered 501(c)(3) with our first paid clinician on staff.

Today Sunflower of Westchester serves more than 2,500 individuals and families a year through four interconnected program areas: counseling, youth development, family and community wellness, and healing workshops. We operate from a 4,200 square foot office on Clinton Street in Valhalla, with a satellite presence in Yonkers opening in 2026.

We remain stubbornly local. Our staff lives in Westchester. Our board includes program alumni. More than 70% of our budget comes from individuals and small Westchester businesses giving under $500 each. That model is slower than chasing large grants, but it keeps us accountable to the people we serve, not to funders three time zones away.